True Love or True Lust?

Sorry to disappoint all you perverts who were hoping it was true lust!  This is not going to be the next 50 Shades trilogy....although I do love a man in uniform, but that has nothing to do with 50 Shades...tangent? :)

Ross and I have been through a lot in the last couple of months and I felt the need to proclaim my undying love for my husband.  Not really, I just LOVE our LOVE story!  It is truly one of a kind and it is a story that I don't get to tell enough!

The story of my husband and I, I would like to say is "true love," if there is such a definition of love.  Love that is not based loosely off of a Disney movie.  I honestly believe and know deep down in my heart, that Ross is my soulmate.  We are meant to be together only for the reason that God brought us together.  We value our love, our friendship, our relationship in God and in each other, and who we are as parents.  We respect each other as individuals and who we are as a couple.  Plain and simple...we are a TEAM.

So how did we get here?  It started back in 8th grade for me and 7th grade for him!!!!  Let's go back together, I love this story!

Ross and I first met at Stanchfield Baptist Church.  They were putting on the Easter play the Victor and I was helping out with make-up.  Forward on to FLA (future leaders of America, for those of you who don't speak NERD!).  We served on the same team and went to State together!




Our love story wasn't much at this point.  He was a boy.  We "went out" during his 7th and my 8th grade year and then I hated him for a year (he was SOOOO self centered) and we "went out" again in high school...his 9th and my 10th grade year.  We didn't become serious until my senior year.  I graduated high school in 2000 and we have been together ever since...13 years!  I couldn't imagine my life without him.


I went to community college for a year and after Ross graduated, we headed off to Bethel University in St. Paul to get a good ol' Christian education!  I was majoring in business and Ross was majoring in I don't remember!  He lasted two years before leaving Bethel and getting his EMT.   We were engaged in 2004 and married on June 25, 2005.  Literally, other than the birth of my children, the happiest day of my life.  We were joined as one.

Fast forward to today....8 years of marriage later, 2 kids (6 and 3), home ownership, misisons to Jamaica, self-employment, new job paths, SWAT team, and everything else, and we are still together.  Stronger than ever.  Why?  Divorce is too easy.  We want to be together.  Sure days can be tough, but I don't want to live this life with anybody else. Trust me, we are not perfect.  We have barely anything in common, but we still make it work, because...I don't want to lie next to anyone else.  I don't want to raise my children with anybody else.  God has blessed us in so many ways and He started blessing ME by bringing this nerdy boy with red hair and thick glasses into my life so many years ago.  Our marriage works because we make it work.  It is a mutual priority.

I love him.

Marianne

Enjoy some of the other pics throughout our relationship and marriage!

My Birthday, Sometime in High School

Bethel University Days

Visiting at the Nortons'

Bowling with Friends

Colorado

Nate and Heathers' Wedding

My Bethel Graduation 2005

Family Christmas

Gooseberry Falls, Our First Anniversary

Potato Boobs

Welcome Eli Ross

Wedding of Sara Jane

My Love

Our Life=Complete